Fowler to left central midfield, Noubisse to right central midfield, Dempster to right central defender, Roper to central defender. Now 3-4-2.

BOOKINGS

Kettering

Kidderminster

Heslop 18 Foul
Heslop 67 Foul
Thomas 90+ Foul

Heslop 67 Persistent Misconduct

Courtney 8 Foul

Referee: Mark Brown (Hull)

Match Report by St@tto

Harriers followed-up their excellent win over league leaders Oxford with an equally impressive victory over high-flying Kettering, their first win at Rockingham Road since 1993.

Skipper Chris McPhee was brought straight back into the starting line-up after missing three games through suspension, David McDermott was the unlucky player to be left out in his place. Harriers started brightly and in the opening ten minutes had chances that fell first to Darryl Knights who couldn't get his shot on target and then leading scorer Matt Barnes-Homer who broke clear on the right before firing wide across the face of goal.

Midway through the half Brian Smikle attacked on the left, breaking into the penalty area and pulling the ball back to Barnes-Homer who shot over. At the other end ex-Harrier Simon Heslop saw his shot beat Dean Coleman and come back off the crossbar.

After the break, with the weather worsening and wind and rain threatening to spoil the game, Harriers began to take complete control of the game. McDermott was brought on in place of Knights and had more of an influence on the game. It was Gavin Caines, however, who went closest to opening the scoring early in the second period, his shot from 25-yards saved by new Kettering player-manager Lee Harper.

Just past the hour mark McDermott's free-kick from deep on the right found the head of Smikle at the far post who headed wide across the face of goal. Shortly afterwards Danny Andrew sent over a free-kick from the left and found Smikle at the back post who again failed to hit the target.

The game swung further in Harriers' favour on 67 minutes when Heslop was shown a second yellow card of the afternoon after a foul on Martin Riley and was sent-off. Two minutes later Harriers had the lead; McDermott's pass put Duane Courtney in on the right who fired a low shot beyond Harper into the far corner to record his first goal in a Harriers shirt.

Harriers put the game out of reach for the hosts with eight minutes left; Barnes-Homer picked out McDermott on the right with a crossfield pass and continued his run forward to receive a return pass at the edge of the penalty area before slotting in his ninth goal of the season. Shortly afterwards Harriers should have increased their lead but were thwarted by Harper; Smikle raced on to a pass through the middle and saw his shot saved, Dean Bennett's follow-up shot was also saved and then McPhee blasted the loose ball over the bar. It didn't matter, though, as Harriers were comfortably in control and the home team never looked like getting back into the game.

KidderminsterHarriers.com

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